Updates, mostly personal
Look, I’ll be honest, after my last post to this blog it’s terribly difficult to think of a first line to this post that won’t sound obscenely flippant or bitter. I’m not bitter, actually–and fortunately. I have too many good memories, and I guess I just have a foundationally optimistic personality. All optimism aside, much of 2020 sucked. But there are good things happening too. For one, I’ve received my vaccine, and that was a weight off my mind I...
Read MoreA Personal Loss
Update 7/12/2020: I appreciate the outpouring of kind words. John is remembered on this memory wall at the Tribute Archive, where I’ve posted some pictures and the eulogy I read at a small ceremony with his family. Another small memorial will be held among his friends in the coming weeks. I write this in a state of shock. My partner for just over a year, John, passed away last night or early this morning (the cause is still to be determined. I believe he went in his sleep). He had...
Read MoreMoney Management and Living on a Budget for Freelancers: the Ebook
First, I’d like to thank my mom and dad. In all seriousness, they raised me to be frugal, or at least to focus on value rather than flashiness when making purchasing decisions, and to save money whenever I could, whether it was in a piggy bank or a CD. Then I became a freelancer, and I had to be frugal by necessity. I’ve developed habits to make frugality more automatic, and I’ve learned ever more tips and methods to save on expenses or to earn extra income. Some of them I...
Read MoreMoney Management and Living on a Budget for Freelancers – Part 4: Savings and Investment Accounts, Final Thoughts
In the previous posts of this series, I’ve discussed sources of income, ways of keeping down expenses, and how I send and receive payments. Here, let’s talk about the other accounts I have, those for savings and investments. While I’ve mentioned these in passing throughout the previous posts, now they deserve more detail. Then I’ll close this post with my final thoughts. Mint’s free budgeting software is awesome for tracking my savings and the goals I’m saving...
Read MoreMoney Management and Living on a Budget for Freelancers – Part 3: Payment Methods
Bank accounts, credit cards, Paypal—it seems being a modern economic agent means all these different options coming out of your ears. In this third section of my money management series, I’ll go over different accounts I have and how I use them, both to get paid and to pay others. Cash and ATM This is actually the last part of my expense budget in Mint, its own line item. I assign myself a certain amount per month that I can take out as cash and use however I want. These cash...
Read MoreHow to build an Affiliate storefront on Bookshop.org
About Bookshop.org Started in January 2020, Bookshop.org is designed to be a better alternative to Amazon, allowing readers to shop online conveniently while supporting indie bookstores, along with authors and organizations who build affiliate stores. Bookshop’s 10% affiliate fee is industry-leading: when someone buys a book from your affiliate store, 10% of the cover price goes to you. Another 10% goes into a fund to be distributed to independent bookstores. Since it’s so new, Bookshop.org is...
Read MoreMoney Management and Living on a Budget for Freelancers – Part 2.5: Expenses, Continued
This is part 2.5 rather than 3 because all my discussion of expenses had been intended for one post. However, I turned out to have a lot to say about coupons and grocery savings. So let’s pick up where we left off. But first, I wanted to share a relevant read from this week: Kickstarter’s Happening newsletter included a link to The Creative Independent’s Guide for Financial Survival During the COVID Crisis. It’s by a financial planner who offers in-depth advice based on...
Read MoreMoney Management and Living on a Budget for Freelancers – Part 2: Expenses
Let’s continue this series with a discussion of how I keep expenses down. Again, I’m not going to tell you not to buy Starbucks (but I will explain how I don’t). And if you’ve been penny-pinching for years, this might not all be new to you, or feasible for you. Part of my inspiration for this blog series came about after I read The $1,000 Challenge and realized I was already executing most of its tips that applied to me (it’s still a highly entertaining and pretty...
Read MoreMoney Management and Living on a Budget for Freelancers – Part 1: Income
This not going to be a series of posts where I tell you to stop buying lattes at Starbucks (though I will talk about what I do instead). Nor am I going to magically fix your budget with a few suggestions – wish I could, especially in these times when many people are facing budget strain, freelancers not least. But over the past few months, as I’ve advised a number of new freelancers, I realized there numerous tips I wish I’d taken sooner, and which seemed new to my friends....
Read MoreA schedule for the next few months, pandemic nonwithstanding
One upside of working from home is that even a global pandemic doesn’t interrupt your schedule much…that said, I hope everyone is washing their hands properly! If you aren’t immunocompromised, consider leaving masks and alcohol wipes for those who most need them. For clients interested in booking me over the next few months: I’m closed to new projects through March 20, and then will briefly open. Because of a major project scheduled ahead of time, I will not be editing...
Read MoreAbout Therese
Therese Arkenberg's first short story was accepted for publication on January 2, 2008, and her second acceptance came a few hours later. Since then they haven't always been in such a rush, yet her work appears in places like Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Analog, Daily Science Fiction, and the anthology Sword & Sorceress XXIV. Aqua Vitae, her science fiction novella, was released by WolfSinger Publications in December 2011.
She works as a freelance editor and writer in Wisconsin, where she returned after a brief but unforgettable time in Washington, D.C. When she isn't reading, writing, or editing (it's true!) she serves on the board of the Plowshare Center of Waukesha, which works for social, economic, and environmental justice.